Sir Alex Ferguson said Manchester United's 45 points is an enormous total at this time of year. Photograph: Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

Sir Alex Ferguson has wasted no time in deploying his traditional mind games as the season prepares to enter its second half, warning Manchester City that they have failed to break away from the pack and insisting that Spurs are the best team in the country.

No team since José Mourinho's Chelsea in 2005-06 have amassed more points than the two Manchester clubs over their first 18 games. Should United only draw with Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford on Saturday, Ferguson's 70th birthday, then Roberto Mancini's side will have lost the lead in the title race by the time they take on Sunderland on New Year's Day. Not only will Manchester City not have shaken off United, a club they thrashed 6-1 in October, but Ferguson warned that Tottenham Hotspur are playing the "best football in the country".

"We have had the stats to show we're five or six points ahead of the previous year's form and you have to say City's form is equal to that," the Manchester United manager said. "To have 45 points is an enormous total at this time of year. It will be nip and tuck between the two of us but I think Tottenham are the best team in the country at the moment.

"The difficulty for Arsenal and Chelsea is that they have to overtake three teams, and unless three teams collapse they won't have that opportunity. Tottenham's form is the best anywhere. Are they title contenders? Definitely."

Ferguson emphasised that Tottenham will not have to deal with the Thursday-Sunday sequence of matches required by the Europa League but pointed out that United have already proved their supreme quality, hardened over a quarter of a century of his management – resilience. "We have lost three games this season and by December you can reckon to have lost three games in any season," he said. "But the ones we lost were very, very difficult for a club like Manchester United to endure. A 6-1 defeat by City. We recovered. Crystal Palace [elimination from the Carling Cup]. We recovered. Basel [elimination from the Champions League]. We recovered.

"It tells you something about this team. The trust and confidence come through and we are seeing some terrific attacking play at the moment."

Ferguson conceded that the absence of the likes of Tom Cleverley, – "the best midfielder in Britain" – meant that despite the 5-0 thrashings handed out to Fulham and Wigan, United's performances have not quite matched the irresistible displays at the start of the season.

Worryingly for their rivals, United's recovery has come with a makeshift, patched up side, especially in defence.

Ferguson said he might be forced to field a back four of Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick, Patrice Evra and the 19-year-old Ezekiel Fryers against Blackburn. Chris Smalling, who was reportedly suffering from glandular fever, has tonsillitis and may be fit to face Newcastle on 4 January.

In attack, United have rather more options, including Dimitar Berbatov. Bayer Leverkusen have distanced themselves from speculation they might bring him back to the Bundesliga, and Ferguson said United would take up their option of adding a year to the contract that expires in June, when the Bulgarian will be 31.

The last time Blackburn came to Old Trafford, Berbatov scored five, although the suspicion remains that he has become something of a flat-track bully. Of the 25 league goals he has scored since the start of last season, 20 have come against clubs who are either in the bottom half of the table or who have been relegated. Ferguson, while conceding his opportunities were limited, pointed out that he had also hit a hat-trick against Liverpool, asking witheringly: "Are they a small club?"

Perhaps more than anything else, those five goals in a 7-1 rout of Blackburn in November 2010 hastened the end of Sam Allardyce's regime at Ewood Park. United have a vast following in India and the result was seen as a humiliation for the club's new owners, Venky's. Ferguson is close to Allardyce and condemned his dismissal and the protests against his successor, Steve Kean, whose relationship with Allardyce has ended since his promotion from the post of first-team coach.

"Anybody who sacks Sam Allardyce, you would think they were off their head," Ferguson said. "He has got such an influential, big personality which I thought was perfect for Blackburn at the time.

"He is an outstanding manager as you see from the job he is doing at West Ham. Why they did it, I couldn't possibly give you an answer but it meant there was a lot of experience coming out of that job."